Forbidden City to open more areas to visitors

The Forbidden City in Beijing, or the Palace Museum, will open three more areas to visitors within this year, said Shan Jixiang, Director of the Palace Museum on June 26.

The three new areas include the passageways from the Duanhong Bridge to the Longzong Gate and from the Archery Pavilion to the Hall of Literary Glory and the Western Canal Street. With these three areas, the total area of the Forbidden City that is opened will be increased from 65 percent to 76 percent. In the future, 85 percent of the Forbidden City will be opened to visitors. Other than this, a cultural relic restoration room will be opened to visitors too.

In early 2016, a documentary "Masters in Forbidden City" attracted much attention from the public, making the cultural relic repair experts known to the public.

According to Shan Jixiang, the Cultural Relic Protection and technology Department of the Palace Museum will soon be moved to the Western Canal Street and a cultural relic restoration center will be established. By then, a "transparent" glass restoration room which is 361 meters long and covers an area of 13,000 square meters will be standing to greet the visitors. In this way, the process of cultural relic repair will be easy for visitors to see.